A slide member such as a slide bearing used in internal combustion engines of automobiles has an overlay provided, for example, over a bearing alloy layer being backed by metal, in order to improve bearing properties such as fatigue resistance and seizure resistance.
Overlay has been conventionally made of soft Pb alloy. However, because Pb is environmentally burdensome, metal such as Bi or Bi alloy is being proposed as an alternative to Pb. Overlay comprising Bi may not be as fatigue resistant as an overlay comprising Pb because of the brittle nature of Bi. This is addressed, for example, in JP 2006-266445 A by growing the crystal grains of Bi or Bi alloy forming the overlay into a columnar shape. The load applied by the counter element such as a crank shaft is received in the direction of the longer side of the columnar crystal grains to thereby improve the fatigue resistance of the overlay.